Page 47 of City of Love

And saw her.

He felt weak again suddenly, but there was no jet causing pain this time. In fact, the only sound he heard in that moment was what he imagined to be his heart dropping the almost six feet to the ground and splattering on the floor.

Lexi sat in a chair at the back of the room, hands bound behind her, her mouth gagged with cloth. A dark bruise painted an awful story on her forehead. But she was awake, eyes huge with worry, her body shaking.

He was at her in a flash, ripping the gag out of her mouth and—

“Gideon, no, it’s a trap!”

The huge roll top door crashed down behind them, the unmistakable sound of shotguns being cocked on the other side of it. Along with laughter.

“Hot chicks as bait, works every damn time,” said one voice.

“Yeah, well, seems they’re not so different from us when it comes right down to it,” said another. “They still think with their dicks.”

“You got that right,” said the first. “This asshole is about to lose half the important people from his town and yet he chooses to play hero to his girlfriend. What a jackwad.”

Julian dipped his chin, his eyes narrowing. “What the fuck did he just say? What the hell is going on?”

His cousin was officially losing his cool, something Gideon never witnessed before. Yet he spared no time to consider it. He untied Lexi and pulled her into his arms, nuzzling his face into her hair, its fresh floral scent covering the stale odor of the concrete room.

She held onto him, her tears dampening the front of his already sweat-soaked shirt. “You guys shouldn’t be here. It was a trap to get you out of their way, Gideon. It’s all my fault. If you’d never met me—”

“Stop. Don’t say that.” He held her away so he could examine her face. “Whatever is going on here, I’m sure it would’ve happened with or without you. If anything, they seem to have done this to you to get to me. If you hadn’t met me—”

He gently touched her bruised head and she flinched. “Who did this to you?” he said, his voice low and barely audible in his anger.

She shook her head. “It’s not important right now.”

“Agreed. Let’s focus on getting out,” Julian said.

“He’s right.” Matthew turned away from them toward the exit. “I’m guessing there are more than a few men with guns on the other side of that door, and with you two guys both so weak at the moment…”

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Gideon asked of Lexi. “What they meant by losing people from our town? And what do you know about Benjamin Smythe?”

“All I know is bits and pieces I overheard a couple of those… douche bags… talking about.” She flicked her hand towards the door. “Somebody, some group of people I suppose, built these tiny devices that pull people over from your world into mine. They plan on kidnapping a bunch of your citizens, but I don’t know who or why.”

“And you? You must’ve had one of those things attached to you too. But when—”

“Right.” She moved one hand to her shirt collar. “Benjamin Smythe did it when he hugged me at the party. I found the device on my blouse. That’s how I figured out he was involved. They wanted you to come after me so they could get you out of the way and off their backs. Benjamin must be working with them. That’s all I know.”

Gideon noticed Matthew getting more and more agitated as Lexi spoke. He paced the room, rubbing his forehead, practically talking to himself. “Matthew?”

“I don’t know, man,” he responded.

But he noticed Matthew’s eyes darted away as he spoke. He was still holding something back.

Julian spoke in hushed tones. “Folks, I hate to keep being the nagging nanny here, but Gideon and I are only going to get weaker and less useful the longer we stay here. If anyone has any ideas, now would be a good time to lay them out. And we might want to keep our voices down.”

For a moment, there was only silence as they all looked at each other, thinking. Then Gideon’s eyes landed again at the bruise on Lexi’s face and he straightened his fatigued frame, clenching his fists. “Why don’t we just fucking—” He raised his arms, ready to blow open the metal door and blast them all to hell.

Another jet passed low over their heads.

The door merely shook and rattled, as he and Julian went down again.

“What the hell’s going on in there?” one of the thugs shouted. “Take it easy.”

“They’re just rattling their cage,” another said. “They’re weak here with all these jets from what I understand. I’m guessing right about now the big guy couldn’t bend a spoon.”

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